Wilson Bohannon causing me trouble

[evalynn]

Hello all, I am including a link to a picture of the Wilson Bohannon padlock I found in my garage. There is no key to this one, so naturally I am trying to pick it open. No luck at all after a week! Grr! It is pretty dirty so I plan to clean it up and give it another try later. I have heard that some of these padlocks open clockwise and some open counterclockwise. Has anyone here dealt with one of these before? Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions about it. I am new to lock picking, so maybe this is more tricky than the master locks I have been working with. Thanks!

[Safecrackin Sammy]

Clean it up and hose it down with some lubricant.

Try compressing the shackle slightly with a rubber band to take the tension off the back of the plug.

[Squelchtone]

WB are very well made locks. I would say harder to pick than a Master Lock any day.

They are celebrating an anniversary right now and just released a new video.


Did someone in your family or a past home owner work for the power or phone company? WB padlocks are very popular with the utility companies. Does the lock say 621 on the other side by any chance?

Let it sit in a glass of Coca Cola overnight. That should free things up for picking practice. Sammy's advice with dousing it in lubricant is also very good. WD40 is good for this task. PB Blaster is great but smells awful for days.

Welcome to the forum,
Squelchtone

[jeffmoss26]

my favorite locks!!

[evalynn]

Thanks for sharing this great video! I see I may have bitten off more than I can chew yet with this one! LOL! There are no other markings on this (no 621 that I can see). The curious thing is, it is painted blue. I haven't seen any others in blue, so maybe that was done by a previous owner. I don't know who had this before, but I assume they tossed it in that box hoping the key would show up at some point, but it apparently never did.

[GWiens2001]

Wilson Bohannan will paint them any color the buyer will pay for. But it is not something they do for one-offs. If a company is buying a few hundred locks, it can be worth their while to do so.

It is possible that WB painted that lock. Or a previous owner.

Gordon

[ausGeoff]

... Let it sit in a glass of Coca Cola overnight. That should free things up for picking practice. Sammy's advice with dousing it in lubricant is also very good. WD40 is good for this task. PB Blaster is great but smells awful for days.

I understand that WD40 is not specifically  intended as a lubricant in the longer term, and can "set"
or become tacky over time. Is this correct? Or is the intention after loosening up a lock with WD40
to disassemble it once it's picked, and clean all its internal bits and pieces?

I don't understand how Coca Cola—which is a sugary fluid—can loosen up a lock, considering the inherent
stickiness of sugar. Or is it the phosphoric acid that (apparently) does the trick?

[GWiens2001]

... Let it sit in a glass of Coca Cola overnight. That should free things up for picking practice. Sammy's advice with dousing it in lubricant is also very good. WD40 is good for this task. PB Blaster is great but smells awful for days.

I understand that WD40 is not specifically  intended as a lubricant in the longer term, and can "set"
or become tacky over time. Is this correct? Or is the intention after loosening up a lock with WD40
to disassemble it once it's picked, and clean all its internal bits and pieces?

I don't understand how Coca Cola—which is a sugary fluid—can loosen up a lock, considering the inherent
stickiness of sugar. Or is it the phosphoric acid that (apparently) does the trick?

If you spray out the lock with a real lubricant after WD-40, it should be fine.

The phosphoric acid and the carbonic acid eat away crud. But the lock should be cleaned and lubricated after Coca Cola has been used to loosen things up. Be aware that it will affect some metals more strongly. Same with brake clean, which will discolor some metals as well.

Gordon